


Adventures at LAX

by Derbil_McDillet



Category: Lost
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Disabled Character, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:27:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27374188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Derbil_McDillet/pseuds/Derbil_McDillet
Summary: Oceanic Airlines sincerely apologizes for any luggage and belongings lost during transit. You will be compensated at the earliest possible date.(or AU where 815 lands safely and Kate is the one in a wheelchair this time around)
Relationships: Kate Austen/Jack Shephard
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

_Los Angeles International Airport. Wednesday September 22 2004.  
_

Jack must’ve been sitting in the crummy little Oceanic Airlines waiting room for about an hour or so when she came in. 

She was quite nice looking with curly dark hair and freckles and her fashionable leather jacket. 

She was also in a wheelchair, but years of operating on spines had taught him not to focus on that. 

They shared a awkward glance before Jack turned his attention back to his old copy of _Us Weekly._

She wheeled past and spoke to the attendant at the desk. After filling out her form she waited a bit before finally addressing him, “So what did you lose?”

It took Jack a second to realize the question was directed at him, “Hmm? Oh me?” He finally put down the magazine and looked up at the mystery lady. 

She giggled, “Yeah you. Unless you have a invisible friend sitting next to you.”

He smiled at that, “Well I think he stepped out to go to the bathroom so we can probably chat. I’m Jack by the way.”

“Kate. and all I lost was a bag full of stuff I swiped from my hotel room in Sydney, so I hope you have a better story then mine”, she replied.

Jack’s expression darkened as he thought over the events of the last few days. He was still coming to terms with it all.

Kate seemed to pick up on this, “You OK? I’m sorry if I’m intruding...”

Jack held up a hand, “No, no. It’s fine. Things have just been very strange lately. You see my father had a breakdown and just dropped off the face of the Earth a week ago. He finally called on Sunday to tell me he had flown down to Australia. So I came to pick him up but by the time I arrived he was already...” He trailed off, unable to sound out the final word. 

Kate looked at him sympathetically, “I’m sorry. I know how it feels. My father passed a few years ago and it was like everything just came apart.”

Jack nodded, “Thanks. I’ve been on the phone with a lot of people the last few days figuring things out but this is the first real face to face conversation I’ve actually had about it.”

Kate smiled and wheeled herself over to the couch he was sitting on, “Well I’m glad I could be here. So I guess you were transporting his body back home?”

Jack nodded again, “Yeah and that’s why I’m here, these idiots”, he jammed a finger at the stylized sun that served as a corporate logo decorating the front desk, “Somehow lost the coffin that was carrying him. For all I know he’s already halfway to Tokyo by now.”

Kate looked over at the logo and then back at him, “Wow. I gotta say as far as lost luggage stories go this definitely takes the cake. So how long have you been waiting for them to get back to you?”

Jack looked up at the wall clock, “Oh maybe an hour I think? I’ve kinda lost track of time. I also don’t think I’ve eaten anything today so that’s probably not helping.”

“I have a suggestion about that,” Kate offered, “Let’s get out of this dingy office for a bit and have some overpriced airport food. It’s on me. It’s probably the least I can do.”

Jack thought it over for a moment, “Yeah that sounds nice. I don’t really feel like having to face anyone from my real life yet anyways.”

As he got up to leave the glass door suddenly swung open and a British man with short blonde hair walked in.

He didn’t pay attention to the duo as he was in the middle of cellphone call, “Well I don’t know where it is Liam. I’m going to talk to the airline people right now.”

He hung up and finally took notice of Jack and Kate, “Oh sorry I didn’t see you there, let me get the door for ya.”

They thanked him and walked and rolled out into the hallway. Kate glanced back at the Brit for a second. She was sure she knew him from somewhere. 


	2. Chapter 2

They spent a while searching the micro-city that was LAX for a decent place to eat. Maybe it was depression but nothing seemed particularly appealing to Jack at the moment.

Kate for her part mostly enjoyed herself. Exploring the airport with her new friend was honestly pretty fun.

The only negative however was the looks from passerby’s who realized they where together. She did her best to ignore them but it was difficult in the bustling halls of the second largest airport in the United States.

”How about here?”, Jack finally suggested.

Kate looked up to see the restaurant that finally caught his fancy, Mr. Cluck’s Chicken Shack.   
  
She smiled, “I didn’t peg you for a fast food guy.”

He shrugged, “I’m not usually but a bucket of chicken seem really nice about now.” 

True to her word Kate payed for their meal. And true to his word Jack did seem to genuinely enjoy his bucket. 

They ate in comfortable silence for a while, Kate honestly didn’t mind especially since she had been on a different continent the last time she had any food. 

After a while Jack finally spoke up, “So what were you doing down in Australia? Can’t be any worse then my story.”

Kate sipped some more of her lemonade before responding, “Eh just a boring business conference. Honestly I’ve already willingly let a lot of it slip from my memory.”

“That’s too bad. I was kinda hoping you were on a nice vacation or something,” Jack replied.

Kate thought about it, “I’ve honestly always wanted to visit and see the Outback for myself but you know,” she tapped the right wheel of her chair, finally addressing its presence. 

Jack looked at it for a second, “You know they make these big all terrain versions for outdoors-y kind of stuff. I saw a thing about it on some Discovery Channel show about cars.”

Kate took another spoonful of mashed potatoes before giving her opinion, “Yeah I’ve looked at some of those but honestly they’re all out of my price range. Especially for something I’d probably only use once.”

It was at this point someone approached their table, they looked up and saw that is was the British man from earlier, carrying his own tray of Mr. Cluck’s, “Hey do you guys mind if I sit with you? All the other tables in this sodding place are full up.”

Neither had a problem so he quickly took a seat at the empty spot across from Jack. 

He eyed them, “Oh yeah I remember you were the couple at the Oceanic waiting room.” 

Jack was going to say something but stopped himself. Strangely he didn’t really feel like objecting, “Yeah we are,” Kate raised a brow but didn’t say anything, “What did they lose of your’s?”

The man paused on starting his meal, “My guitar if you can believe it. I flew all this way for a charity gig and the bloody idiots lose my instrument! I mean I guess I can use a replacement but it’s just not the same.”

Finally it hit Kate, “Ohh!”, she said excitedly, “Holy crap. You’re Charlie Pace! The bassist for Drive Shaft!”

Charlie grinned, “Why thank you. And indeed it is me in the flesh!”, he reached over to shake her hand, “It’s always nice to meet a fan.”

Jack just continued to chew. He didn’t recognize this apparent celebrity but figured it would be rude to ruin his moment.

Kate didn’t notice. She was still pretty hyped up, “This is great! Charlie Pace eats Mr. Cluck’s just like the rest of us!”

Charlie finally took a bite of his sandwich, “Hey I love this place too, ever since they opened a up a location on East Finchley. This is the height of American cuisine as far as I’m concerned.”

Jack finally spoke up, “We’ll I’m glad we can contribute something to global culture. I’m Jack by the way,” he also shook Charlie’s hand.

”Why thank you, and whose this lovely lady with exceptional taste in music that you snagged?”, Charlie asked before taking a sip of his coke.

”I’m Kate. You wanna wait with us while Oceanic try’s to find our stuff and then admits they accidentally sent it to Singapore?”, she offered.

Charlie held up a hand, “Oh no I don’t want to intrude on you love birds. I’m sure you just want some time to yourselves.”

Jack shook his head, “Oh it’s no problem. We’ve got nothing better to do anyways. And adding a third person to shoulder the misery of waiting in an airport for luggage that will never arrive is always helpful.”

Kate looked over at Jack a with a smile of appreciation. Jack just winked back at her.

”Man I want what you two have,” Charlie said as he admired them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I liked the idea of reuniting the original team that visited the front section from the Pilot in this AU.


	3. Chapter 3

“So what do actually do for a living? You know when you’re not stuck in airport purgatory,”

Kate asked Jack as they wondered semi-aimlessly around a gift shop. Charlie was up ahead out of earshot checking out some trinket or other.

Jack stopped scanning the shot glasses and looked at her, “Oh umm, I guess I didn’t tell you, I’m a spinal surgeon. I work over at St. Sebastian’s.”

“Ah so you work on spines, is that why you’re so interested in being my fake boyfriend?”, Kate asked teasingly as she shook a snow globe with a tiny version of the Theme Building inside.

Jack was surprised, “That? Oh it has nothing to do with that. It’s just when Charlie thought we were a couple it just seemed awkward to say no.”

Kate put the snow globe back, “More awkward then dragging a stranger into your web of lies?” 

Jack finally gave up, “I’m... I’m sorry that was really weird.” 

Kate softened a bit, “It’s OK I know you’re in a weird headspace right now.” She tried on a baseball cap that read _I_ _heart_ _Hollywood_ (but the heart was a stylized cartoon version). “Anyways I’m flattered you’d pick me as a fake girlfriend. It really warms up my fake heart.”

Jack now just feeling embarrassed, was relived when Charlie walked back to them talking with a Middle Eastern man they didn’t recognize. 

“Hey guys,” Charlie greeted as they walked, “I just meet this guy over by the t-shirts, you have to hear his story, it’s amazing!”

Kate and Jack could see that said man had a that sort of slight passive aggressive smile reserved for when you wanted someone to buzz off but where to polite to just say it directly.

He greeted them both anyway, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, My name is Sayid.”

They shook hands, Kate trying her best to convey an apologetic expression for Charlie’s behavior. 

“So Sayid, what's all the fuss about?”, Jack was interested even if he did feel a little uncomfortable asking this clearly annoyed stranger questions. 

“Yeah tell ‘em what you told me!”, Charlie egged him on. 

Seeing that the duo was interested in what he had to say, Sayid decided to humor them, “Alright fine, to make a very long and compacted story short there’s a woman here in LA that I haven’t seen since in many years and I’ve come to see her to see if she’ll still have me.”

Kate actually thought that was pretty cute, like something out a grand romantic adventure. Though she could tell Sayid didn’t feel the same way, “Then why are you still here in an airport gift-shop instead of rushing to the nearest taxi?” 

Sayid just shrugged, “I don’t know, I convinced myself that what I wanted most was to see her again, but know that she’s within driving distance all I want to do is catch the next flight to Siberia and spend the rest of my days as an ice fisherman.”

“Well you’ve probably built it up in your head so much you’re afraid reality will disappoint you,” Jack offered up. 

Sayid nodded in agreement, “That’s very astute.”

Charlie seemed to finally catch on the atmosphere, “Hey you know the three of us are waiting around to hear about our lost luggage. You could hang out with us if you’re not ready to leave yet.”

Sayid shook his head, “No, no I really should get going. I have to face reality eventually.”

He started to leave, but not before turning back to the trio, “Thank you all, it was nice to talk to someone else about this. I hope you three find what you’re missing.” 


End file.
